The Truth About Music

"What's hot, what's not, and whats next in pop music"

Topic: Album Review

The Best Rap Album Of 2011 Has Arrived And It’s Not The One You’re Thinking Of

By Harris posted August 17, 2011 at 08:00

It’s rare when an album can blow someone away. Sure, there are some great albums out there but how often are we truly taken aback? Chances are it’s not all that often. With everyone and their mother talking about Kanye West and Jay-Z’s new album “Watch The Throne,” Eminem and Royce da 5’9″ quietly released their second album under the moniker Bad Meets Evil called “Hell: The Sequel.” What’s crazy is that this album came out almost two months ago! Continue...
Review: The Imperial Rooster Are Clowns

By Robert posted June 03, 2011 at 13:00

They’re fantastic, vaudevillian, psychotic, sociopathic clowns who write fantastically winsome music. Charming is a blanket term for a band so well versed in so many styles, but keep their hearts pinned to one of the founding souls of American music, folk inspired country. But, they write a folksy country hybrid with a sense of macabre, a sound that’s clear, abusive and dipped in gasoline, and fused with a side of napalm. Continue...
Review: Lisa Savidge (Self-Titled)

By Kevin posted June 03, 2011 at 12:00

Phoenix-based noise pop band Lisa Savidge provide plenty of intriguing sounds on their self-titled sophomore album, vacillating from rock fury to atmospheric gloom over the course disc’s 12 tracks. Continue...
Review: Death Cab For Cutie Brilliant On New, Lighter Record ‘Codes and Keys’

By Robert posted June 01, 2011 at 12:31

Very rarely does a band’s style and sound get so ingrained with fans expectations of the output that the band, that the emotional prowess of the songwriting, becomes the calling card. Death Cab for Cutie has legions of obsessive fans that live and die through principle songwriter Ben Gibbard’s music so much, that there were doubts cast when he got married, and moved to sunny L.A. vs. staying in melodramatic Seattle where he grew up. People thought the music would suffer, they thought the droning absolution to miserable artistic solitude would be forever gone with his new lease on life. The results, thankfully are not what was expected. They’re exceeded, largely. Continue...
Review: Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ More Tired & Boring Than Cutting Edge

By Robert posted May 25, 2011 at 13:13

For an artist who champions strange, weird, creative, and beautifully bizarre in all of it’s varied facilities; Lady Gaga’s new album “Born this Way” is none of these things. As we’re constantly thrown into a universe where the Queen of the Monsters rules over every trend popular culture throws at us, you’d imagine she’d take the challenge further and create something viable, something…. Interesting. In reality she created something tired, and boring. Continue...
Review: Twin Atlantic Impress With Sophomore Album ‘Free’

By Robert posted May 23, 2011 at 08:00

Twin Atlantic must have been busy listening to a lot of 90’s rock records when they were in the studio recording their newest album “Free”, because the record, as a whole is like one large throwback to something that was plastered on the radio in alternative rock’s heyday. The record oozes an influence of bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, even the 90’s punks like Green Day, and Offspring. The main similarity is that it’s coated with the throwaway one hit wonders that fill up BEST OF…. Collections found on infomercials or at your local Walmart that feature artists like Nada Surf, Veruca Salt, or Matthew Sweet. That signature, open ended guitar riff, and the distorted bass of that musical era are everywhere on “Free”, so much so it makes breaking out the cardigan sweater and a Walkman seem almost plausible. Continue...
Album Review: Holy Ghost!

By Kevin posted May 04, 2011 at 15:00

Holy Ghost! first piqued the ears of audiophiles with “Do It Again,” a first-class slice of sonic wizardry crammed with shimmering synths, a ferocious bassline and beats all topped off by an “oh oh oh’s” that could only be described as deliriously psychotic baby laughter. The duo provide plenty of heading spinning tricks on other tracks. “It’s Not Over” and the ironically titled “Slow Motion” practically spill over with stacks of booming tom tom drums, frenetic keyboards and at one point, an oddly poignant brass solo. “Static On The Wire,” features an elastic bass, smooth falsetto vocals, warm chords and fiery guitar solo, provides a sleek, sultry groove ideal for late nights, and the breathy “Say My Name” give offs a cool, laid back vibe. But the album’s focus turns consistently to pop melodies and more traditional song structure. This was a [...] Continue...
Review: Explosions In The Sky Respect The Art of The Album

By Jay posted April 28, 2011 at 13:37

By Far the coolest thing about the new Explosions in the Sky vinyl is that the album art transforms into a 3D version of the image. For those who have never heard of Explosions in the Sky, they’re the band responsible for the ethereal backgrounds to the show “Friday Night Lights.” While I am not a huge fan of the show, I am a fan of the music. The Texan instrumental quartet is formed sets a soundscape they refer to as “cathartic mini-symphonies.” It’s not an album that you buy in singles, but a call back to the days of putting on an album and playing it all the way through. The guitars create a sonic sea which can both lull and excite you as you float along. The dynamics tear down the wall of sound, ebbing and flowing between the highs and lows as you would hear in a [...] Continue...
Review: ‘Wasting Light,’ An Emotional Breakthrough For Fighters, Grohl

By Robert posted April 25, 2011 at 08:00

“Wasting Light” by The Foo Fighters is an intriguing record. It’s part self-serving, part fuzzed out fuck you, and part journey into the past. Upon first listen, the album seemed bland and forced. It just felt like a pile of music, and without any kind of striking identity amongst a canon that features such behemoths as “My Hero” and “Everlong.” It seemed like it was about to fall into the land of awful records with honourable intentions. After spending a little more time with it and letting it put its hooks into me, the album comes off more upset than anything. Troubled, but a piece of music that has substance, and will satisfy the throngs of die hard Foo Fighter fans who have given lead singer David Grohl a few passes over the years with some of the not so stellar albums he’s released. We all know Grohl as this like, [...] Continue...
Review: Not Quite Gaga, Jessie J Fails At Meeting Her Goals

By Harris posted April 14, 2011 at 08:00

When a quote in Rolling Stone reads “the U.K.’s answer to Lady Gaga,” you had better bring it. Jessie J, born Jessica Ellen Cornish is an openly bi-sexual, singer from London. Her outfits are over the top and her makeup is just as outrageous. In fact if you boil down her entire schtick, you’d probably arrive at a Lady Gaga cover artist. Well, we’re not going to go that far. Jessie J actually has a great deal of respect for Gaga. “Of course Gaga is incredible but she’s set the bar so high for everyone else” Jessie J told Mirror. As if Gaga had done something wrong, she sounded determined to stand out in a world in which breaking through was harder than ever. Continue...